6 Ways to Take Advantage of Your Media Coverage

One thing one of my early PR mentors drilled into my head was that yes, the goal is to obtain media coverage but then the most important thing you can do is ‘give it legs’. What she meant by this is that once you obtain media coverage you can always take it farther than just the one-time media clip. You aren’t truly fulfilling the potential of the coverage if you just pat yourself on your back and move on, you must use it to further propel your business in any way possible. Here are six of the many ways to do this:

Share on social media: One of the easiest and best things you can do is post coverage on your social media channels. It’s an immediate and easy way to share the good news with people who have chosen to follow you because they want to stay updated. You owe it to them to share it with them first. Through social media you can reach all your followers, plus give people a chance to spread it farther by sharing it themselves or commenting on it.

Put it on your website: You should definitely have a space on your website either for recent media coverage, or at least for news and announcements. Whether that’s a separate dedicated page, or a corner of the home page, make sure there is somewhere that you can show off your great work. This way anyone who visits your site, both regular viewers, and first timers looking for more information, will see it. At the very least, include a post on it in your company blog.

Use it in future promotion: Keep images and video clips on hand in a special file for future use. Pull them out whenever you have a chance to show them in front of a new audience. Printed promotional materials are a great place for a quote excerpt from a good review or an image of your product in the hands of a celebrity. Add them to a slide that can be used in presentations if you do a new business pitch or even speak at a conference or event, showing your past successes and what you are capable of. It’s ok to brag a little – people want to see what you can do.

Include it in your newsletter: If you send out a weekly, monthly, or any type of newsletter either electronically or in print, be sure to include recent coverage. People will be interested in seeing the recognition you have achieved. Include a link or an image or even a text except – whatever works best for the situation.

Imbed it in your signature: Include a one liner with a link to the coverage in your email signature so that everyone you email will have the chance to be lead to it. You probably already have links to your social media (or you should!) so why not add one to your well-deserved coverage? Make sure it stands out a bit and include a small detail about what it is in the one line that shows up in the signature.

Make a video: Compile coverage into a video that you can post on your website and on YouTube. If it’s just one piece of coverage that’s fine- make a short video explaining it. This can be done many different ways. You could have a person in the video actually holding the physical article and talking about what it is and why you got featured, or you could have computerized versions of the coverage shown on the screen with a voice in the background and/or text on the screen describing it. Remember, keep it short but sweet. The video footage can then be used in the future whenever applicable.

There are more ways than just these six to take advantage of your media coverage, but these are a good start. It is important to do as many of these as possible, if not all. Even better, doing some of them makes others easier and provides a chance for even more ‘legs’. For example, once you’ve already shared the initial link or image on social media, you can make a video about it and share the video on social media later on. This way you get multiple social media posts out of one piece of coverage, without being repetitive because it is different content. You can also imbed an electronic version of your newsletter mentioning the coverage or the link to the blog post in which you highlighted it in your email signature, thereby not only showing people the coverage, but also encouraging them to read your newsletter or blog. There are so many options and ways to give secured coverage legs. Have fun with it and don’t be shy about showing it off as much as possible!